I have been reading an article (Lessons From The Last War - Predicting The Next War) today regarding nation’s that
have prepared for future wars based on the previous war. One of the examples
used in the article was the approach of both Germany and France in the lead up
to the campaign in 1940. The article argued that while both nations went down
very different paths, both could be said to have taken lessons from the last
war.
In the case of France it prepared to fight the next war by
the standards of the last war and was tied in to a firepower based doctrine for
attacking.
The Germans on the other hand took the lessons from the last
war to show that a mobile approach to warfare was needed and that the what was
needed was a concentration of armour to force a break through and push for the
enemy rear and center of communications etc.
The part of the article that got me thinking however was how
the author showed that actually both lessons from the last war were applicable
to the war in question. While the German approach worked in part due to the
lack of adequate anti-tank weaponry in appropriate proportions, as the war
progressed and the anti-tank density increased the French lessons became more
applicable to the conduct of the war especially when it came to breaking the
determined German defensive positions in Normandy.
The second example used for the article is the lessons from
the 1967 ‘Six Day War’ between the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and Egypt and their
application during the war in 1973. Once again the article points out how the
lessons were learned and then applied in each case. The example is concluded that while the IDF
suffered significant casualties especially to its tank formations, it still
emerged victorious. The author also points out that had the IDF taken a
different route as various commentators suggested the casualties might have
been greater and Egyptian gains more permanent due to the loss of mobility.
Israel drew an important lesson from the 1973 war and that was that the IDF was
too small for the wars it was having to fight.
The author concludes the article by making the point that
lessons can be learned from past wars but doctrine should not be fixed on these
lessons as it is very likely that others have also studied previous wars and
drew their own lessons. The author does warn not too be too flexible as the
jack of all trades is the master of none. The closing point is one that is applicable
to most walks of life; preparation, training, research into past wars and
studying the theories will lead to success.
I can recommend The Journal of Military Operations as not only is it free to access but it also contains good articles written with present day operations in mind.